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Unexpected/unconventional games that Sonic titles could learn from


KHCast

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As the name says, I was curious what games are out there you’ve played, outside the typical platforming genre preferably but you can still use them if you want, that made you go “huh, this mechanic, or gameplay design could work really well if implemented correctly in a Sonic title!” 
 

For an example, I always thought that Persona 5’s flashiness and style could do wonders for Sonic in creating even more memorable hype set pieces. Especially after P5R, there’s so much energy and life in that game that even a little note taking of how that game does style could do wonders I feel.

 


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Spider-Man PS4 also is one that made me really fall in love with the parkour idea. It’s fluidly keeping the momentum and speed going (rest of post is in status cause fucking spoiler tag) obviously with Spiderman there’s a lot of verticality and focus on buildings, and a soul focus on the parkour could take away from things like platforming, but play your cards right, and this could potentially compliment the more platformy elements of a 3D Sonic game  

 

 

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I wish Lost World was able to be as fluid and natural feeling, cause the idea itself is solid. Hopefully they give this another go, and perhaps take some cues from this game. Cause this idea still has a lotta potential I feel.

 

Anyway, those were just a couple ideas I had personally lol


 

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(just a quick little break from school) I remember playing a Pixar game on the ps3 when I was a little tiny boy, granted I remember a lot but:

wall-e-ps3.jpg

I found out about this game after I watched a sliced multi-part playlist of Wall E, I loved the movie of course, and after looking at that game I came to a conclusion: Wall E the video game is like sonic and skate parks mashed together. So what you have to do is pick up enough batteries in the stages to get to the next room, but instead of just a lone hallway with no spice to it, there's skate park level design (and that arcing curve from sonic chronicles) you even gain acceleration and momentum when you hit a downward slope, allowing you to jump over ramps.

so I think that Wall E for ps3 is a something that sonic could get some inspiration from, if at least for the level design (maybe a bit more open as well, since Wall E for ps3 is pretty linear).

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I haven't played Spider-Man PS4, however, the first thought that came to mind was actually Spider-Man 2 for me. From what I remember, excluding combat, the game encourages you to always be in movement. Even some of his web abilities have different speeds, and wall running help maintain that sense of "flow".

 

I wonder if even a "parkour" drop dash like mechanic can work on the side of a building if Sonic is not already running while reaching it. Only thought of that last part because of Speed Highway's beginning, where you can fall off. Parkour drop dash can help get you up.

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Defunct, an indie game.

It's a fast-paced platformer/racer/adventure hybrid where you can't directly jump unless you run into a ramp or fall from a cliff. However, when you jump/fall, you see a vector that shows the predicted trajectory of the jump and an indicator that shows the landing point. You can alter the trajectory of the jump by moving the character; the indicator will adapt to the changes in real time. This concept would work very well in 3D faast paced platformers like Sonic. The idea probably comes from golf games, though unlike golf games, in Defunct it's used in movement.

In Sonic it would make the platforming a lot easier, and it could be applied in other parts of the game such as when you are rolling, to let the player predict the direction of their movements without having to calculate it by mind (thing that may be confusing for unexperienced players). Though it should be paired with a good camera system designed to work with it.

This is one of those mechanics that are designed to make the 3D platforming less confusing, like the homing attack; unlike the homing attack, this one doesn't take away the controls from the player.

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Not Spiderman PS4, but for parkour I always think of Prototype. The first one at least. Just being able to reach crazy speeds. Like, just look at Lost World's parkour, specifically the part from 2:52 onward where he clambers onto a bridge.

It's very stop and start. He stops in his tracks to climb straight up the edge of the bridge before he continues powering forward. I had difficulty finding someone who even did this because everyone else (Clement, Cobanermani etc) just jumped over it with a spindash. Not a good look for your parkour when literally anything else is preferable.

COmpare this to Prototype and how he just effortlessly glides over most things. It feels like this is how this character genuinely moves, rather than a semi-pointless gimmick.

 

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I'll take a bit of a different direction and I might anger platformer purists (or at best might just not be an "unexpected" or "obscure" choice), but I'll say that the closest thing to what I want a 3D Sonic game to go for is Trackmania, mostly for 2 reasons:
1) That series' track designs made me go "that would've been cool in a Sonic game" quite a lot. The big, non-automated loops where you have to preserve your speed to go through, dash pads that don't automate your movement, really long jumps that work only when you have the right speed, no invisible walls, meaning you can do some maybe non-intentional, but still satisfying shortcuts without any kind of glitching, etc. If there's one game that knows how to make you use the momentum/speed and not fully restrict the player, it's probably Trackmania.

2) A level maker would be nice. That'd give a near-infinite playtime to a game and a way to circumvent the issue of Sonic games being short without being padded with bad gimmicks. It'd also give the way for a community to be creative with levels without the need of modding tools or going into game's files and such.

 

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Danganronpa series for its character development, style, and plot twists. The series is very good at creating multiple layers of a false sense of security, making seemingly innocuous characters downright deadly, and revealing the depths and secrets of everyone you meet, especially via the Free-Time Events. You're betrayed on all sides, and only some of those were in good spirits. A very good example is Teruteru Hanamura from the second game: 

 


Teruteru starts off as a somewhat strange comic relief "chubby chef" character, who's mostly notable for his accent and design. During the first level of the game, he harasses Sonia Nevermind and Hiyoko Saionji at the party. Later, he is found to be the first killer, having taken down Togami. However, it turns out he did have good intentions for this; he was missing his mother, and was in a state of panic over her safety. Nagito Komaeda, the antagonist, threatened to kill someone at the party, and Teruteru was wanting to do something heroic and save everyone. Togami pushed Komaeda out of the way, and he was struck by the projectile instead. His one chance to be a good person, squandered. All he wanted was to see his family again, and he requests just that before his execution, but he doesn't even get to do that.
Once you play through his free-time events, however, it turns out he's actually one of the nastiest characters in the franchise, and wholly deserving of his humiliating death.

 

Another inspiration, this time for the gameplay of Big if he were ever playable again, are games like Umihara Kawase (you literally use a fishing rod to grab surfaces) and Action Henk (where it's used to gain momentum)

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It's kinda silly, but I'd love to see more "chase" levels, kinda like in Crash Bandicoot, but of course, adapted to fit with Sonic's speed.

I know they did it before in Sonic Adventure 2 (City Escape), but it was just a straight line, without many obstacles. I want to see an actual level of this, filled with obstacles, holes and whatnot.

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This could be a good thing for Knuckles' or Rouge's hunting stages. Fully destructible environments, a la Red Faction.

 

This could be added to other characters' stages in order to open up new routes, or open up new ways to destroy bosses (bring a rock slide down on Eggman). Another one would be to complete a stage without wrecking the joint at all.

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